I like to think I would have spotted the one about the Olympic Games being replaced by the Hunger Games.

Likewise the story which appeared in the media yesterday about Athletics Kenya being disbanded. And about Usain Bolt - remember him? - applying for US citizenship.

But that's the thing about April Fool's Day jokes. You sometimes get caught off guard.

Just for a fleeting second - and for no more than that before anyone decides to get smart - the story put out yesterday by the US sporting pressure group Bring Back the Mile had me expostulating.

Their standard press release format detailed a decision take by USATF President Stephanie Hightower to ban the Mile from the sport in the United States, a decision Bring Back the Mile described as "misguided, undemocratic" with the additional request that its supporters helped to fight the ban by using the hashtag #StopSteph

Had Stephanie Hightower, President of USA Track and Field, taken leave of her senses this week? Banning the Mile? Well no. Not really. Doh ©Getty Images

Misguided! Too right, I mean, well, Stephanie, I mean, spoke to her on more than one occasion, spoke to her in Birmingham before London 2012 about the decision to use the city as a training base for US athletes, great ex-hurdler, sensible woman...what was she thinking?

And then, in the quote that followed, I saw the reference to Louis XIV and the mile turned into a smile.

"Per USATF By-Laws, I have the authority as its President to ban any event at any time for the betterment of the sport, and I did so for the Mile because as Louis XIV said: L'etat c'est moi," Hightower said defending her decision.

"Yes, the Mile is still very popular in America, but it is unfair to the other track & field events that receive little if any media coverage and fan interest compared to the Mile and its coveted sub-four minute standard.

France's Louis XIV, who was said to have announced: "L'etat - c'est moi" - "The state - that's me". Using the quote was a bit of a clue Hightower wasn't serious. The views of Louis XIV on the Mile distance have not been recorded
©Hulton Arichive/Getty Images

"Also think of all the children competing in other lesser known non-Mile events which will surely impact their fragile self-esteems if the Mile continues to be contested and disproportionately recognised."

"With all due respect to Ms. Hightower, we will challenge her misguided decision even if it means going to Congress to change the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 to stop this egregious action," said Ryan Lamppa, Bring Back the Mile founder.

There is, of course, a long history of spoof sporting stories which have appeared on April Fool's Day.

Two of the best in recent years happened in the space of 12 months in the late 1980s.

On April 1 1988, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia reported that Argentina's prized footballer Maradona, who had led his country to World Cup victory two years earlier, was in negotiations to joining Spartak Moscow, who were to pay him $6 million (£4 million/€5.5 million) to play in their struggling team.

Holding up the World Cup for Argentina in 1986 - Diego Maradona, who played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell's Old Boys, and Boca Juniors again. But never for Spartak Moscow ©Bongarts/Getty Images

The Associated Press picked it up - no gloating here, there but for the grace of God and all that - but had to publish a retraction when Izvestia responded to their query by referencing the date of publication.

State-run Soviet news organisations didn't do funny. Everyone knew that. But clearly Mikhail Gorbachev's new policy of glasnost was beginning to thaw the official Russian sense of humour.

A year later viewers of BBC's Saturday afternoon Grandstand programme witnessed an extraordinary scuffle taking place between members of the newsroom as Desmond Lynam was presenting live to the camera.

As the fight escalated, drawing in more people, Lynam remained steadfast to his task, assuring viewers: "We'll continue to do our best to cover sport in the way you like, backed up by our highly professional team".

Soon afterwards the brawling parties were shown standing together holding a sign that read "April Fool."

All very amusing. And for a while, all very alarming.

Having wobbled just for a second over the Bring Back the Mile effort, I found myself wondering if we were in the same territory again when I saw a piece tweeted by Spikes magazine (@spikesmag).

In it, 38-year-old Kim Collins, the long-running sprinter from St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean  - still competing today having won the world 100 metres title in 2003 - was promoting the notion that "Training hard does not work".

Kim Collins, the former world 100m champion from St Kitts and Nevis, who says one of the secrets of maintaining an international career over more than 20 years has been not working too hard in training. No fooling ©AFP/Getty Images

But upon reading the article, it became clear this was no joke. This laid-back and affable sprinter insisted: "Too many athletes train far too hard daily. The problem with this is that the body does not have any or enough time to recover. It is very rare that I train at 90-95 per cent in training. Very rare."

So, no April Fool's there. Nor indeed was there a joke involved in the BBC Sport's interview with Liverpool and England footballer Raheem Sterling, who revealed that he was not a "money-grabbing 20-year-old" after turning down a deal with Liverpool worth £100,000 ($148,000/€136,000) per week.

Not that everyone seemed prepared to accept it. "BBC rounds off a fantastic April Fools Day with that Raheem Sterling interview!" tweeted talkSPORT radio host Danny Kelly.

When I saw the Aaron Cook story I had another little feeling of uncertainty, I'll admit. The former British taekwondo star missed out controversially on a medal at the 2008 Beijing Games before being left out, even more controversially, of the British team at the London 2012 Olympics, despite the fact he was European champion and world No.1 at the time.

Taekwondo star Aaron Cook practising in his home-made gym in 2011, with his mind on the London 2012 Games. He now has his sights on the Rio 2016 Games - and he has a Moldovan passport
©Getty Images for British Airways




Having moved to the Isle of Man from his home in Dorchester, Cook represented his new homeland at last year's European Championships in Sochi, winning gold and restoring himself to the world No.1 position.

And on April 1, of all days, it was announced that his plans to compete at next year's Rio Olympics for a new country had been substantially advanced tby the receipt of a passport offering him citizenship of...Moldova.

While numerous agencies were splashing it as breaking news, a swift check on insidethegames revealed Michael Pavitt's story of February 27 about Cook's Moldova ambitions.

I hadn't kept up with that story. Foolish, I know...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.